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Laser induced fluorescence (LIF) is used to investigate oil transport mechanisms under real engine conditions. The engine oil is mixed with a dye that can be induced by a laser. The emitted light intensity from the dye correlates with the residual oil at the sensor position and the resulting oil film thicknesses can be precisely determined for each crank angle. However, the general expectation is not always achieved, e.g. an exact representation of piston ring barrel shapes. In order to investigate the responsible lubrication effects of this behavior, a new cavitation algorithm for the Reynolds equation has been developed. The solution retains the mass conservation and does not use any switch function in its mathematical approach. In contrast to common approaches, no vapor-liquid ratio is used, but one or several bigger bubbles are approximated, as have been observed in other experiments already.

Improving fuel efficiency while meeting relevant emission limits set by emissions legislation is among the main objectives of engine development. Simultaneously the development costs and development time have to be steadily reduced. For these reasons, the high demands in terms of quality and validity of measurements at the engine test bench are continuously rising. This paper will present a new methodology for efficient testing of an industrial combustion engine in order to improve the process of decision making for combustion-relevant component setups. The methodology includes various modules for increasing measurement quality and validity. Modules like stationary point detection to determine steady state engine behavior, signal quality checks to monitor the signal quality of chosen measurement signals and plausibility checks to evaluate physical relations between several measurement signals ensure a high measurement quality over all measurements.

Presented within the framework of this SAE Technical Paper are the highly accurate results of friction experiments, performed upon a floating-liner, single-cylinder test engine with a capacity 0.5 liters and crank angle resolution during motored and fired operation. This allows for the measurement of mixed friction zones at the dead centers. These mixed friction zones can result in friction losses and lead to wear in the components in-volved. The strength of the friction forces in any given mixed friction zone is largely dependent on the operating point. This is why the influence of each of the most important operating parameters - speed (rpm), load, oil and coolant temperature - is individually analysed, before the interactions, which are depicted in the resultant engine map, are discussed.

Synthetic fuels for internal combustion engines offer CO2-neutral mobility if produced in a closed carbon cycle using renewable energies. C1-based synthetic fuels can offer high knock resistance as well as soot free combustion due to their molecular structure containing oxygen and no direct C-C bonds. Such fuels as, for example, dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and methyl formate (MeFo) have great potential to replace gasoline in spark-ignition (SI) engines. In this study, a mixture of 65% DMC and 35% MeFo (C65F35) was used in a single-cylinder research engine to determine friction losses in the piston group using the floating-liner method. The results were benchmarked against gasoline (G100). Compared to gasoline, the density of C65F35 is almost 40% higher, but its mass-based lower heating value (LHV) is 2.8 times lower. Hence, more fuel must be injected to reach the same engine load as in a conventional gasoline engine, leading to an increased cooling effect.

This SAE Technical Paper contains detailed data which are relevant for the calculation of the friction forces of the piston assembly in internal combustion engines. Useful ways of employing calculations besides measurements are exactly classified for the optimization of the piston assembly system in order to reduce friction losses. In the first step the theoretical basics for the calculation of the tribological system are introduced. Referring to the theory, the paper goes into detail about the basic set-up and the modeling degree of the calculation program. Furthermore, measured and calculated curves of friction forces are compared for different operating points. In addition, analysis of the crank-angle resolved friction force are presented with varying engine speeds, oil temperatures and loads and a detailed interpretation of the results is given.

On the way to a climate-neutral mobility, synthetic fuels with their potential of CO2-neutral production are currently in the focus of internal combustion research. In this study, the C1-fuels methanol (MeOH), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), and methyl formate (MeFo) are tested as pure fuel mixtures and as blend components for gasoline. The study was performed on a single-cylinder engine in two configurations, thermodynamic and optical. As pure C1-fuels, the previously investigated DMC/MeFo mixture is compared with a mixture of MeOH/MeFo. DMC is replaced by MeOH because of its benefits regarding laminar flame speed, ignition limits and production costs. MeOH/MeFo offers favorable particle number (PN) emissions at a cooling water temperature of 40 °C and in high load operating points. However, a slight increase of NOx emissions related to DMC/MeFo was observed. Both mixtures show no sensitivity in PN emissions for rich combustions. This was also verified with help of the optical engine.

Beside the main trend technologies such as downsizing, down speeding, external exhaust gas recirculation, and turbocharging in combination with Miller cycles, the optimization of the mechanical efficiency of gasoline engines is an important task in meeting future CO2 emission targets. Friction in the piston assembly is responsible for up to 45% of the total mechanical loss in a gasoline engine. Therefore, optimizing piston assembly friction is a valuable approach in improving the total efficiency of an internal combustion engine. The form honing process enables new specific shapes of the cylinder liner surface. These shapes, such as a conus or bottle neck, help enlarge the operating clearance between the piston assembly and the cylinder liner, which is one of the main factors influencing piston assembly friction.

Aging effects such as coking or cavitation in the nozzle of common rail (CR) diesel injectors deteriorate combustion performance. This is of particular relevance when it comes to complying with emission legislation and demonstrates the need for detecting and compensating aging effects during operation. The first objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of worn nozzles on the injection rate. Therefore, measurements of commercial solenoid common rail diesel injectors with different nozzles are carried out using an injection rate analyzer of the Bosch type. Furthermore, a fault model for typical aging effects in the nozzle of the injector is presented together with two methods to detect and identify these effects. Both methods are based on a multi-domain simulation model of the injector. The needle lift, the control piston lift and the pressure in the lower feed line are used for the fault diagnosis.

In the near future, pollutant and GHG emission regulations in the transport sector will become increasingly stringent. For this reason, there are many studies in the field of internal combustion research that investigate alternative fuels, one example being oxygenated fuels. Additionally, the design of engine components needs to be optimized to improve the thresholds of clean combustion and thus reduce particulates. Simulations based on PRiME 3D® for dynamic behaviors inside the piston ring group provide a guideline for experimental investigation. Gas flows into the combustion chamber are controlled by adjusting the piston ring design. A direct comparison of regular and synthetic fuels enables to separate the emissions caused by oil and fuel. This study employed a mixture of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and methyl formate (MeFo).

Oxygenated synthetic fuels such as oxymethylene ether (OME) are a promising approach to reduce the emissions of diesel engines and to improve sustainability of mobility. The soot-free combustion of OME allows an optimization of the combustion process to minimize remaining pollutants. Considering the injection system, one strategy is to decrease the rail pressure, which has a positive impact on the reduction of nitrogen oxides without increasing the particle formation. Furthermore, due to the reduced lower heating value of OME compared to diesel fuel, an adaptation of the injector nozzle is recommended. This work describes a method for analyzing the injection process for OME, using the Mie scattering effect in an optically accessible heavy-duty diesel engine. The design of the 1.75 l single cylinder engine allows operation up to 300 bar peak cylinder pressure, providing optical access through the piston bowl and through a second window lateral below the cylinder head.

The use of modern simulation tools in the engine product development process is explained using the layout of a piston and its piston ring-pack of AUDI V6 SI-engine as example. Based on the requirements for piston rings in a SI-engine the possible trade-offs are explained. A base layout for a ring-pack for the specific engine is presented. Further the validity of the simulation model is rated as the simulation output is compared to actual dynamometer measurements of the blow-by map of the engine. Additionally a test setup is presented, which measures piston ring movement and the pressures between the rings and in the ring grooves. Also these measurement results are compared to the simulation. Using DOE (design of experiments) on the base layout potentials for optimization are shown and applied. To identify the positive effects in the engine pistons with piston rings are fabricated in accordance with the DOE recommendations.

Measuring and simulating the contact between piston pin and connecting rod (conrod) is very complex. The pin can rotate freely in the conrod as well as in the piston. Further, there is no defined oil supply with a constant pressure as it is for example in main bearings. A tribometer test bench was adapted to measure friction between pin and conrod. The system is loaded with a constant force and oil supply is realized as defined deficient lubrication. During one part of the schedule, the rotational speed is defined as ramp to measure friction coefficient over speed, in another part the speed was pivoted from positive to negative speed within less than 500 milliseconds. With this measurement method, the different friction coefficients between radial slider and pivot bearings could be quantified. The measurements were conducted for four different pin-coatings.

Investigating the oil transport mechanisms of a combustion engine is essential to decrease engine losses and optimize overall performance. As explained in [1] the amount of oil at predefined positions can be investigated by mixing the engine oil with a specific dye. Therefore, the technology of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is used. Fiber optics are assembled flush to the cylinder wall and give the possibility of inducing the dye locally by means of a laser. The emitted light intensity correlates with the amount of oil between the cylinder wall and piston ring. The oil film thickness of the piston ring running surface can therefore be determined for each crank angle (CA). However, the emission signal measured does not always correlate to the complete barrel shape of the piston ring.

Developing piston assemblies for internal combustion engines faces the conflicting priorities of blow-by, friction, oil consumption and wear. Solving this conflict consists in finding a minimum for all these parameters. This optimization can only be successful if all the effects involved are understood properly. In this paper only blow-by and its associated flow paths for a diesel engine in part load operating mode are part of a detailed numerical investigation. A comparison of the possibilities to do a CFD analysis of this problem should show why the way of modeling described here has been picked. Further, the determination of the complex geometry, which results in a challenging set of calculations, is described. Besides the constraints for temperature and pressure, a meshing method for the creation of a dynamic mesh that is capable of describing the movement of all three rings of the piston ring pack simultaneously is also explained.

The development of today's drivetrains focusses on the reduction of vehicles' CO2-emissions. Therefore, a drivetrain for urban and commuter traffic is under development at the Institute of Internal Combustion Engines. The concept is based on a lean-burn air cooled two-cylinder natural gas engine, which is combined with a hydraulic hybrid system. On the one hand, lean-burn combustion leads to low nitrogen oxides emissions and high thermal efficiency. On the other hand, there are several challenges concerning inflammability, combustion stability and combustion duration. An approach to optimize the combustion process is the design of the piston bowl. The paper presents the engine concept at first. Afterwards, a description of design parameters for pistons of natural gas engines and a technical overview of piston bowls is given. Subsequent to the analysis of the different piston bowls, a new design approach is presented.

Measurement techniques for piston ring rotation, engine oil emission and blow by have been implemented on a single-cylinder petrol engine. A novel method of analysis allows continuous and fast real-time identification of the piston ring rotation of the two compression rings, while the mass-spectrometric analysis of the exhaust gas delivers the cylinder oil emission instantly and with a high temporal resolution. Only minor modifications to the piston rings were made for the insertion of the γ-emitters, the rings rotate freely around the circumference of the piston. The idea of this setup is that through online observation at the test bench, instant feedback of the measured variables is available, making it possible to purposefully select and compare measurement points. The high time resolution of the measurement methods enables the analysis of dynamic effects. In this article, the measurement setup and evaluation method is described.

This SAE Technical Paper gives a summary of the essential findings in the development and operation of a test engine dedicated to the measuring of the friction between the piston group and the liner. Firstly the fundamental demands on the high-precision and close to real engine operation friction measuring are laid out. Subsequently the basic engine, the measuring system based on the floating liner method including a gas balance device, as well as the implemented measuring technique are specified. Major influencing variables on the friction of the piston assembly and its interference variables are also summarized. Extensive information about the systematic and strategies for the test engine's operation startup are given in acknowledgement of influencing and interference variables. This strategy reduces the developmental and startup process of an engine dedicated to the measuring of piston group friction.